Latvian Community Center

Latvian Community CenterSoon after the founding of the Chicago Latvian Club (later to become the Chicago Latvian Association) in 1935, its members began to work on the dream of a center for the community by forming a center committee. Later, a community center fund was also called into existence under chairman Kārlis Dzirkalis. Every Association president after that endeavored to add resources to this fund. On January 1, 1958, this dream became a reality when then-president Viktors Vīksniņš signed the contract purchasing the building that is now the Latvian Community Center on behalf of the Chicago Latvian Association.

The large hall on the second floor of the Center features the painting “Tauta pie jūras” (“People by the Sea”) by prominent Latvian painter Augusts Annus. The painting was commissioned in 1965 by the Chicago Latvian Association.